Gerry and Linda Lakemaker of Frontier Drive have been recognized as March 2023 Selection of the Month by The Garden Club at Palm Coast. Becasue of an editorial mixup (caused by either the editor or publisher) this article did not appear in our March issue. It is appearing now as part of our cover story so we hope you enjoy it along with our other coverage.
The Lakemakers are originally from Largo and moved to Palm Coast in 2006 when they retired. Due to the heavy freeze this past January, it was difficult to find a curb appeal landscape. After many hours of scouting Flagler County, I kept driving by this amazing green landscape that had no visible damage from the freeze and they had several azalea bushes flowering.
Their front yard is surrounded with ligustrum hedges which provide shelter for the dark pink azaleas behind them at the front door area that were blooming. In between the ligustrums are two podocarpus, and sable palms surrounded by manicured round schillings. In the front rows of the hedges, they have Boston ferns and liriope which gives the landscape a nice ground cover. There are potted sedum, vincas, aloe and clovers. Not currently blooming in the back yard is a large gardenia tree. There are several flowering azalea hedges, a large bottlebrush tree, plumeria, pineapple, lemon and lime tree, jasmine, and a dwarf bottlebrush in bloom. The lanai area has Hawaiian ti, pink and red cactus in bloom, and a waterfall pond with water lilies and wooden egrets grazing on luscious ferns.
